


The Final Award Show

by aclosetlarryshipper



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-17
Updated: 2018-03-19
Packaged: 2019-04-01 10:55:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13996773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aclosetlarryshipper/pseuds/aclosetlarryshipper
Summary: Years after One Direction's breakup, the 5 superheroes come together again to fight against one of the biggest threats known to humanity.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! Um, it's been a while. I don't know if this is going to go anywhere, or if people even read fic anymore, or if anyone is interested in reading this, but if you do, please note that there is mention of sex trafficking in the beginning chapter and there will probably be more injustices to follow (that I will note in the beginning of subsequent chapters.) Ok, cool.

Louis winces. Fire spreads from his fingertips to his toes, just as slow and agonizing as the first time, and every subsequent occurance.

It’s always worth it.

Louis slips into the room behind the two men unnoticed, just before they close the door and triple lock it. Louis presses the button on his phone just as the final lock clicks. Unbeknownst to them, the room holds three.

“Benny,” the older man barks. “Where’s the girl?”

Benny hesitates before answering. His hands wring together, nervous. He’s new, Louis notes. “We’re holding her at my house. She’ll be at LAX first thing in the morning.”

“How old?”

“She’s almost thirteen.”

Louis’ fists clench. It’s takes all of his will power to not lunge at the men right then. He’s close, so close – and striking at the right time is pivotal.

“Perfect,” the older man says. He’s brisk – so brisk that this can’t be his first time trafficking. “She’ll be out by breakfast and I’ll be paid by lunch.”

He laughs, and that’s when Louis allows himself to attack.

Louis grabs the chair beside him and flings it at the old man. It hits him in the diaphragm, just where Louis aimed, and knocks the breath out of him. The man falls to his knees, wide eyes bewildered and terrified.

The second man screams.

The adrenaline rockets through Louis’ body as they both search frantically for the source of the flying chair. He finds a sick pleasure in the knowledge that when terrified, both men freeze and cower.

“You’re going to pay for this,” Louis says. His voice is deeper and more commanding than usual, the one he reserves only for when invisible.

Benny jumps up and reaches for the door. Louis aims a kick at his shin and watches as he tumbles to the floor, tears threatening to fall. Just to keep them both on their toes, Louis aims another kick at Benny’s ribs.

As both criminals struggle to catch their breath, Louis watches with his arms crossed over his chest, revolted. Moments later, he hears the sirens.

“Don’t move,” Louis commands as he unlocks the locks and opens the door, stepping outside. He isn’t interested in getting involved past where he’s needed – he doesn’t need that again.

He slips out the door and watches until two policewomen surge into the building and arrest the two men.

Louis smiles. He touches his compass tattoo, sending out the signal that he’s okay. He feels a heat on his bicep in response, and even though it makes him sad, He knowS.

That’s enough for Louis today.

~ 

When it’s dark, Louis likes to take walks.

Much to the chagrin of all of his old friends, he’s able to walk down the streets of LA without so much as a second glance. As long as the street isn’t busy, he might as well not be there.

He’s on Sunset Boulevard waiting at a crosswalk when a TMZ tour bus stops at a red light beside him.

“Ooh, there’s a great view of the Hollywood Hills coming up! If you look closely, you can see Harry Styles of the late One Direction’s house,” the blonde woman with the microphone says. Louis watches as she points in the wrong direction, his stomach dropping.

“Does Lady Gaga live in those Hills?” a teen in the back of the bus asks.

“No, sadly, she’s in Malibu,” the blonde tour guide answers. “Did you see her tweets today, though? Weirdly political, and not in the way I expected. I think she’s doing some real soul searching. Good for her…”

The bus chugs off, leaving Louis breathing in the fumes of exhaust.

The crossing sign says to walk, but Louis stands thoughtful and uneasy for a bit longer.

~ 

Louis brings the hot tea to his lips as he paces through his living room.

It’s solitary and quiet, and does nothing to ease the racing of Louis’ heart.

The room is littered with mementos of the life Louis lived only two short years ago, before the team disbanded. The progression on the walls is almost linear, following their journey, downfalls, and triumphs.

Their first group picture at Superhero Headquarters, almost ten years ago, takes up a sizeable amount of the wall. It’s so large that their name badges are legible if you know what you’re looking for: Louis – invisibility, Harry – charm, Niall – telereceiving, Zayn – clairvoyance, and Liam – strength.

That had always been fun to explain away at parties, not that Louis worries much about those anymore. Half-formed stories of Halloween parties and never before released television specials are buried within the frame, sealed with Harry’s distant laugh.

Slightly smaller is the shot of them losing the X-Factor. That picture makes Louis’ stomach tighten up, at the thought that they had used young and innocent Harry to their advantage, at the thought that they were being groomed to send out messages that none of them stood for with too-big smiles and manufactured personalities. With their establishment as a successful band, they had become the most powerful superheroes in the world. Louis shudders to think of what could have come if they hadn’t figured it out – their strength didn’t just come from within, but because of their influence.

The next picture makes Louis’ heart ache. It’s from the night they all officially severed ties with the corrupt Superhero Headquarters and came together to form their own allegiance, to work as a team for what they stood for. In the photo, Louis has his arms around Harry, and they’re laughing. Their telepathy had already been established at that point, and Louis thought he would never be alone with his thoughts again.

How wrong he was.

The rest of the photos range from first broken up heist to late night burgers to behind the scenes at awards shows. The general public may remember the night of the VMAs as the night they won an award, but Louis remembers it differently. He remembers it as the night Liam saved a man from a burning building while still wearing his tuxedo.

The photos once brought him joy, but now they make him nostalgic and sad.

Gradually, the unity and togetherness of the photos taper away. The smiles become more faded and the arms around each other more hesitant. Louis remembers their last meeting so well, not only because it coincided with the day he lost the love of his life, but because it was the end of an era, an end of the family he once called his own.

Louis slides open the door and walks outside. The lights of Los Angeles glitter in the night beneath him. Alone in a house too big for a family of ten, Louis has never felt more invisible.

Louis feels the buzzing under his skin and knows it’s only a matter of time. Something is changing… something needs to be done…


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I now seem to make very short chapters that aren't really worth reading because I'm impatient. No warnings for this chapter :)

There’s a searing in Louis’ ankle that wakes him from his fitful sleep.

It’s the sign he’s been looking for. The pain has been dull, a background noise, until now. He’s had his bag packed for days, ready and on alert. He’ll be on the next flight from LA to New York.

~

With sleep still crusted in the corners of his eyes, Louis sinks into his first class seat and finally relaxes. It was a rush to get to LAX, but he’d been able to pull some strings and make it just in time – not that being unable to legally get onto a flight would necessarily stop him. But sitting comfortably is much more preferable to his other option.

He’s just beginning to wonder what could be taking the plane so long to depart when his world **S T O P S.**

Into the plane walks Harry, looking just as beautiful as he’d looked the night that they’d broken up. Louis’ heart rate spikes, drumming against his ribcage as though it’s ready to escape, and Louis struggles to remain calm.

Harry locks eyes with him only moments later, mouth opening in surprise, eyes like a deer caught in the headlights. **H E S I T A T I O N** , and then – Harry strides Louis’ way. Leisurely, he stashes his bag above Louis’ head while he takes a few deep breaths, and then takes his seat.

Harry will be sitting right next to him, then.

Louis can feel that there are at least three pairs of eyes on them at the moment, staring. It’s the only reason he hasn’t gone invisible.

Harry gulps and glances at Louis. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Louis answers automatically. He’s not mad at Harry, not anymore; if you look hard enough, you can find a reason to have been hurt by anyone. More than anything, Louis misses him.

Harry bites his lip, as if to stop from speaking. Louis can’t tell how he feels anymore – not since both of their adrenaline died down or since Harry moved out and Louis washed away the scent of Harry’s cologne in their – his – sheets. He desperately wants to hear whatever Harry has to say to him after all of this time, after all of their tattoo check-ins and answering the same call, but knows this small, enclosed space isn’t the place.

“I guess we’ll talk at Zayn’s,” Harry echoes as he slips on his ear buds.

Louis nods. Harry isn’t looking.

It’s a long flight.

~

_Is a One Direction reunion on the horizon? Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson spotted together on a red-eye to New York last night. Check out the pics here!_

Louis rolls his eyes as he scrolls past the tweet on the drive to Zayn’s. He shakes the rain out of his hair and kicks off his shoes to attempt to dry out his wet socks. Though the rain has left the Range Rover’s interior humid and stifling, it’s a relief from the tension on the plane ride. Harry was in arm’s reach, but he was just as completely inaccessible as he has been for the past two years.

_Am I the only one that thinks Fischer knows what he’s talking about? Not sure why anyone’s writing him off so early honestly_

Louis’ halfhearted, passive scrolling stops. The verified blue checkmark beside the name is what troubles him most. The humidity in the car feels as though it doubles, suffocating him.

~

Being back at Zayn’s feels like outgrowing your favorite shirt. The pictures on the wall are familiar and welcome, but Louis also sits stiff on the black sofa, carefully avoiding any contact with Liam sat beside him. He brings his much-needed glass of water to his lips, dry-mouthed and anxious.

Harry, having arrived first, thought ahead to claim the only single-seat chair in the room.

Zayn clears his throat. “Harry, I saw that you were in Kentucky not too long ago. How was that?”

Harry’s smile is faint. “It went well, yeah. I went to try to get to Mitchell Nance – he was the judge – but the state got to him first.”

“Seems like public’s doing a lot of your work for you these days,” Liam chimes in.

The room’s atmosphere shifts into, if possible, more of a disaster than before. Liam hadn’t said it outright, but it hints at the very reason they all ended things on the bad terms they did.

Niall bursts into the room at exactly the right moment. His eyes widen as he’s assaulted by what Louis imagines to be four choruses of “ **A W K W A R D** ” pointed his way.

“Jesus…” Niall murmurs to himself as he takes a seat. “Nice to see you all again, too.”

“So,” Zayn says as he stands. He wrings his hands together as he avoids everyone’s eyes. “I’ll just show you, and then we can talk it over after.”

At that, he shuts his eyes and holds his palms out in from of him. Slowly, a projection begins on the wall.

An image forms. There are three men at a polished table, dim lighting casting shadows across their unfriendly faces.

Fischer, a gangly man who hadn’t even made it to the public’s radar until a few months ago, is the one who speaks.

“The Grammys.”

The room collectively takes in a breath. This time, the words are from a man they know well.

“That’s our best shot.”

Louis vaguely recognizes the next man – he thinks he may have sat next to him at an award show years ago. Before.

“And E is our best chance.”

Abruptly, the scene fades back into nothingness. Zayn falls back into an armchair, winded from the projection, and closes his eyes.

“I couldn’t see any more than that. But it sounds big,” Zayn says.

“No use denying it,” Niall says. “We’re all in. We all know what this means – we know what he’s capable of.”

Louis looks around the room. Harry pinches at his bottom lip with glazed over eyes as Liam sits with furrowed eyebrows. Niall and Zayn nod at each other in agreement, and Louis sits with an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“One question – how are we all going to get to the Grammys?” Liam asks.

“Hiatus over,” Niall shrugs. “The boys are back.”

“Our disagreement – ” Harry cuts in. “Nothing has changed.”

“I think this is bigger than our disagreement,” Zayn tells him. “This will affect everyone we care about, _everyone_ that we’ve all fought so hard to protect, together and separately.”

Harry’s eyes lock on Louis’.

He nods.

~

_One Direction Reforms! The band’s sixth studio album will be released next month!_

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, this is going to be political, and politics are bad right now, so if you haven't already please register to vote!


End file.
